Radio controlled toy boats are well known in the hobby industry. Toy boat designs typically mimic full size boat designs, including V-hull inboard and outboard boats, tunnel hulls boats, “cigar” racing boats, and air cushion hover craft vehicles.
It is well known to adjust the trim angle of a boat to regulate its ride and performance. The terms trim and trim angle refer to the horizontal pitch of the boat relative to the horizontal surface of the water. Many devices are known for adjusting trim angle, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,622 describes a full size boat having a variable hull configuration, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,058 describes a toy boat having an adjustable stabilizing weight system.
Airboats, also known as swamp boats, are specially designed craft having aircraft style propeller or fan propulsion and a flat bottom for operation in very shallow water, weed-infested water, and over land or mud. While the flat bottom design is useful for relatively low speeds in multi-terrain environments, such as swamps, it has the disadvantage of being relatively unstable at high speeds and especially in high-speed turns. Airboats are also susceptible to degraded performance under adverse environmental conditions such as high wind or high waves.